Georgette moved over Mexico’s Gulf
of California after it lost strength and was downgraded from a
tropical storm, while thunderstorms over the southeast Caribbean
Sea threatened to intensify into a cyclone.

Georgette, a tropical depression with winds of 55
kilometers (35 miles) an hour, was on a path toward mainland
Mexico’s west coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in
an advisory on its website shortly before 7 a.m. Mexico City
time. The storm was 55 kilometers east of Loreto in Baja
California, heading north-northwest at 19 kph. It hit the Baja
peninsula yesterday near the resort of Cabo San Lucas.

A tropical storm watch, indicating winds of at least 63 kph
are possible within 12 hours to 24 hours, was issued for the
coast from Huatabampito northward to Bahia Kino, and as much as
250 millimeters (10 inches) of rain may cause “life-
threatening” floods and mudslides in the south-central Baja
peninsula and Sonora state, according to the center.

“Moisture from Georgette is expected to spread into
portions of the southwestern United States during the next
couple of days,” the center said.

In the south-central Caribbean Sea, a collection of showers
and thunderstorms had a 60 percent chance of developing into a
cyclone in the next two days, the center said in a separate
advisory at 8 a.m. Miami time. That’s up from 50 percent three
hours earlier. A tropical cyclone is a rotating storm that
ranges in strength from a depression to a hurricane.

Dump Heavy Rain

“This system has the potential to become a tropical
depression later today or tomorrow,” the center said. The
weather system was located near the Windward Islands, and was
moving west at 24 kph.

The system will likely bring squalls to the Netherlands
Antilles and the northern coasts of Venezuela and Colombia
today, the center said.

“The whole Caribbean is getting lit up with shower and
thunderstorm activity,” Jim Rouiller, a senior energy
meteorologist at Planalytics Inc. in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, said
yesterday. “This one bears watching.”

Energy traders sent natural gas futures up for the first
time in three days yesterday as the probability of a cyclone in
the Gulf of Mexico grew. Natural gas for October delivery gained
9.7 cents, or 2.5 percent, to settle at $3.919 per million
British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

“If there is a storm in the Gulf this late in the season
it’s going to be a game-changer,” said Peter Beutel, president
of trading advisory company Cameron Hanover Inc. in New Canaan,
Connecticut. “It will catch a lot of traders that are not
prepared for it.”

Cape Verde Islands

In the eastern Atlantic, Tropical Storm Lisa retained
strength with sustained winds of 45 mph, the center said in
another advisory at 5 a.m. Miami time. The storm was 725
kilometers west-northwest of the Cape Verde islands, moving
east-northeast at 7 kph.

Lisa is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane, with winds
of at least 119 kph, before weakening again to a storm during
the next five days. The system isn’t yet a threat to land,
according to the center.